a moment to refocusonlife - love yourself

Hi Everyone!

First off, let me apologize for not writing last week. I was terribly busy, but that's no excuse! But, I'm back in all my glory this week! Happy Monday morning!

Recently, I went to The Green Room (TGR) in Newton to see Hairspray. It's amazing the amount of talent and great entertainment we have so close to home. I have to hand it to TGR on their ability to make a top-notch production right here in our backyard! Huge props go out to them on the legs they break at every single show!

Don't you DARE try to stop this beat! 

Hairspray has amazing music, a wonderful story, and has more laughs than a barrel of monkeys! There are many inspiring lyric in the play, but one of my favorites comes from the song, "Big, Blonde and Beautiful". What a fun, inspiring song. Possibly my favorite line in the song is "one day my grandma who was big and stout she said you gotta love yourself from inside out". How great is that? Stuck in the midst of a song that is totally opposite my normal message on this blog about health eating and choices, is a line that tells us we should love ourselves no matter what.

Okay, so maybe just for the purpose of this blog, we'll skip over the following line, "bring on that pecan pie, pour some sugar on it"...
But hey, we have to all learn to love ourselves no matter what reflection we see when we look in the mirror.

Another great thing about Hairspray was the talent in the show. A really good friend of mine played Edna Turnblad in the show. Many times throughout the course of the show, David posted inspirational messages on his Facebook page. One really touched me deep down to the core, David stated, "I am thankful for the applause and love that will help show the members of our audiences who are different, it's ok to be and do you...after all. You can't stop the BEAT!"

It's funny where we pickup inspirational messages. Who'da thunk that I would learn something from a comedy with guys and girls in big fancy wigs? Oh, that's right, I KNEW I would. Let's open our hearts and minds and love ourselves and one another for who we are!

a moment to refocusonlife - a love letter

My Sweet,

I miss you terribly. I haven't seen you since July 6th, 2012. How can it be possible that we've been apart for so long? Yet, the days keep passing and I keep missing out on your golden, sweet love. You've moved too far away from me. Life without you is dull. 

Asparagus anyone? 

You tempted me with your evil ways for far too long. I was forever in your grips. I thought our love affair would never die. In fact, I was sure of it. I couldn't live without you. 

Fortunately, for me, life has gone on. I have replaced your salty whispers with savory goodness in every aspect of my life. But, that's not to say that I'm not forever in your crispy hands. 

We have met on the streets but I pass you by without a word. You used to be a supersized portion of my life, now your deliciousness touches my lips only in singles. 

But never fear, I have decided that you aren't important to me. Over the course of this letter, it has become clear to me that I have made the correct decision. You will forever be banished from my life no matter how wonderful you are. McDonald's, Zaxby's, and Ore Ida try their best to tempt me back, but never fear, I have resolve of steel that is no longer capable of being lured by your deep-fried crispiness! 

With that, I shall close this letter, and forever bid you goodbye. Goodbye my devilish French Fry. I'll see you on the other side. My heart truly thanks you. 

a moment to refocusonlife - our choices count

Yesterday, the kids and I had an evening appointment, so we were not home to cook. The three of us went to Chili's where I ordered the most low-carb item that I could find, the chicken fajitas. Lauren and Christian both ate great as well. What a wonderful evening spent with my wee ones!

Choose slow and relaxing over quick and cheap! 

When we arrived home, Mark was complaining about how bad he felt. He was sick on his stomach. He was totally zapped of energy. For dinner, because we weren't home to cook together, he decided to go to Papa John's and have one of their $5 Monday specials. Economically great, but not a great choice for him. See, not only have we not been eating that kind of food for quite a while, the amount of grease he encountered was probably more than he had had in 2 months combined. I cook with very healthy oils and as little of those as possible. They add too many calories!

The point here is this, today Mark thanked me for the dinner I cooked tonight, Baked Chicken with sautéed green beans and brussel sprouts. It was very light, even though it was parmesan encrusted chicken. After we finished, Mark said, "it's amazing the difference of how refreshed I feel after eating on of our healthy meals versus what I ate yesterday".

Quick, easy, and cheap is best left to the street walkers rather than on our table and our forks.

That's all I got y'all. I'm tired and not making sense, so I think I'll stop here!

Have a great week and remember to take a moment to refocusonlife!

a moment to refocusonlife - absolute value

Happy Tuesday everyone!
I absolutely hate it when a Tuesday parades around and acts like Monday, but I sure did enjoy the long weekend!

I thought I would start off this week with a math lesson. My daughter, Lauren, would be so pleased (she says math hates her). Thinking of Lauren, I'll try to keep this simple...

Pretty picture that has ABSOLUTEly no relevance to the post

Absolute Value is "the magnitude of a real number without regard to its sign". It is denoted by putting parallel, vertical lines on both sides of the number. For example, |-9| would be the absolute value of -9, which is actually a positive 9! It's like the lines are hugging the negativity out of that 9!

Don't you just love math? I know I do. But even more importantly, I love anytime I can take something and turn a negative into a positive! Yes, life throws us curveballs daily, but what good does it do to sulk around and be negative about the jabs that other people, electronics, stress, and everything else throws our way? I can answer that question, it does no good whatsoever!

So, the next time you feel yourself slipping into a bad or negative mood, get a hug from someone and think of that hug as being the absolute value of your negativity. |negativity| = POSITIVITY!

Think about it. And, don't confuse the absolute with Absolut...that's not the answer either! (I threw that in there for the commentary I was anticipating from Pattie!)

Enjoy this short, wonderful week y'all!